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U.S. nonmilitary capital goods orders in August rebounded from a 3.3% decline in July, but the 1.5% gain fell short of expectations. Orders are "rising, but they're rising modestly. Until businesses are more confident about the growth in underlying demand, they'll be cautious as far as adding capacity," said Kevin Logan, chief U.S. economist for HSBC Securities USA.

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Revised U.S. figures for January show a 7.2% gain from December in orders for nonmilitary capital goods excluding aircraft. The Commerce Department data also show a 9.8% rise in orders since November, the biggest three-month gain in 20 years. "The fundamentals that drive investment activity are improving rapidly. You really do have all this pent-up demand and catch-up activity," said Diane Swonk, chief economist for Mesirow Financial in Chicago.